Unprecedented performance and scalability demonstrated for meter data management. The benchmark was performed at the IBM Power Systems Benchmark Center in Montpellier, France, on a single IBM POWER7® system, utilizing 16 cores

1. IBM Software Executive Summary
Unprecedented
performance and scalability
demonstrated for meter
data management
Performance testing results of AMT-SYBEX
Affinity Meterflow application using IBM Informix
TimeSeries software
Executive summary
Highlights In August 2011, IBM and AMT-SYBEX, an IBM Business Partner
and provider of high-performance energy data processing solutions
Ten million meters scalable to one for energy and utilities companies across Europe, collaborated to
hundred million meters for five billion perform a benchmark test of Affinity Meterflow (formerly Smart DTS),
daily meter readings
AMT-SYBEX’s solution for meter data management (MDM). The
IBM and AMT-SYBEX testing has Affinity Meterflow application uses IBM Informix TimeSeries software
demonstrated the capability of the IBM® to manage smart meter data. The benchmark was performed at the
Informix® TimeSeries software to enable
IBM Power Systems Benchmark Center in Montpellier, France, on
the Affinity Meterflow™ application to
offer linear scalability up to 100 million a single IBM POWER7® system, utilizing 16 cores.1
meters to load and process meter data at
30-minute intervals in less than 8 hours. Understanding the significance of this benchmark may help energy and
The time required for 10 million meters
took less than 36 minutes.
utilities organizations and MDM solution providers to:
• Deploy best-in-class MDM solutions
• Dramatically reduce storage and system costs
• Accelerate time-to-value gained from smart meter data
• Reduce risk of smart meter deployments
• Help protect growing smart meter investments

2. IBM Software Executive Summary
The results of this benchmark demonstrate the substantial In summary, the benchmark results show that Informix
business value that use of Informix TimeSeries combined with TimeSeries software is able to break the bottleneck of massive
a proven MDM application can deliver to the energy and MDM and deliver significant business benefits to utility
utilities industry. We invite the reader to compare these organizations, as well as to ISVs offering packaged MDM
results with other published benchmark results. solutions such as Affinity Meterflow from AMT-SYBEX.
• Faster processing of meter data means faster business The value of the benchmark
processes that use that data Data is increasingly the lifeblood of every industry, but a
–Achieved daily billing calculations of 21,000 bills per minute deluge of digitized information can create huge disruptions
while concurrently running the data load and risk if not anticipated and effectively managed. Consider
the communications industry, forced to accelerate huge
• Significant reduction in storage requirements infrastructure investments as their systems and networks
–Total storage required for one month of interval and strain under the data pressure created by an avalanche of
register data for 100 million meters was less than 4 terabytes smart devices and new data services.
– Average throughput exceeded 420,000 records per second
in meter data load using standard storage disks Enter the smart meter.
• Consistent, scalable performance helps yield highly As the cornerstone of Smart Grid initiatives and Advanced
predictable costs Metering Infrastructure (AMI), smart meters promise
–Daily end-to-end processing times remained constant for to deliver significant benefits to energy and utilities
100 million meters over a 31-day period, irrespective of the organizations and their consumers. Smart meters
amount of data stored fundamentally change how and when energy usage data
–Storage requirements remained linear over time is collected. The result is a tsunami of data that must be
processed, transferred, stored and analyzed, creating
These results are enabled by the unique technology of the unforeseen technical challenges and business risks for which
Informix TimeSeries software, used together with a proven many utility organizations are not prepared.
MDM solution such as Affinity Meterflow. Unlike traditional
relational databases, Informix TimeSeries technology As AMI initiatives increase, how does a buyer compare one
consolidates and organizes time-stamped (interval) data in a MDM solution to another? Armed with the knowledge
way that requires less storage space and enables significantly that MDM will create data storage and performance
improved data load and query times. challenges, how does a buyer know the amount of systems
and storage that will be needed or whether service-level
agreement goals have been met?
2

3. IBM Software Executive Summary
Answers to these questions are determined by many factors, The benchmark was conceived and conducted to illustrate
including the database system that sits at the core of all these benefits in tangible ways. It tested the preparation,
MDM solutions, whether packaged or home-grown. Does it loading and validation, estimation and editing (VEE) of
matter which data management solution is used? meter data for a 10 million–meter utility, as well as a
“day-in-the-life” scenario for a 100 million–meter utility. If
The answer is decidedly yes. you compare the performance of Affinity Meterflow with
other MDM solution offerings that do not use Informix
Providers of MDM solutions understand that faster TimeSeries software, we believe you will conclude that these
processing of meter data enables faster business processes performance and scalability results are exceptional.
that utilize that data (such as meter-to-cash) and faster data
analysis. With a database system as the enabling technology, For more information
performance is affected by the speed, efficiency, and To see the complete benchmark test and results, please visit:
scalability of that database system. https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/
thread.jspa?threadID=390441
IBM has conducted several Proof of Concepts (PoCs) with a
number of companies using Informix TimeSeries as the
enabling technology in the customer’s own MDM
applications. In each PoC, Informix TimeSeries consistently
outperformed the customer’s existing solutions, at times
enabling up to 50 to 70 times faster processing of meter data,
while requiring as little as 30 percent of the storage.
3

4. © Copyright IBM Corporation 2011
IBM Corporation
Software Group
Route 100
Somers, NY 10589
U.S.A.
Produced in the United States of America
September 2011
All Rights Reserved
IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, Informix and POWER7 are trademarks
of International Business Machines Corporation, registered in many
jurisdictions worldwide. A current list of other IBM trademarks is available
on the web at “Copyright and trademark information” at ibm.com/legal/
copytrade.shtml
Other company, product or service names may be trademarks, or service
marks of others.
DTS, Smart DTS, and Affinity Meterflow are products of AMT-SYBEX.
IBM and AMT-SYBEX are separate companies and each is responsible for
its own products. Neither IBM nor AMT-SYBEX makes any warranties,
express or implied, concerning the other’s products.
References in this publication to IBM products or services do not imply
that IBM intends to make them available in all countries in which IBM
operates. All statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are
subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and
objectives only.
1 Performance data resulting from the benchmark testing contained in this
summary were determined in various controlled laboratory environments
using a specific hardware and software configuration, are provided AS IS,
and are for reference purposes only. The results that may be obtained in
other operating environments may vary significantly. Factors that may
influence actual results include, but may not be limited to, the specific
hardware (servers, storage, etc.) used, application environments, and use
of data compression, etc.
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